The Republican response to the State of the Union was delivered by Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican representative from Washington — and it was remarkable for its lack of content. A bit of uplifting personal biography, a check list of good things her party wants to happen with no hint of how it plans to make them happen.

The closest she came to substance was when she described a constituent, “Bette in Spokane,” who supposedly faced a $700-a-month premium hike after her policy was canceled. “This law is not working,” intoned Ms. McMorris Rodgers. And right there we see a perfect illustration of just how Republicans are trying to deceive voters — and are, in the process, deceiving themselves.

…. conservative politicians aren’t just deceiving their constituents; they’re also deceiving themselves. Right now, Republican political strategy seems to be to stall on every issue, and reap the rewards from Obamacare’s inevitable collapse. Well, Obamacare isn’t collapsing — it’s recovering pretty well from a terrible start. And by the time that reality sinks in on the right, health reform will be irreversible.

…. Literally a few seconds into the interview, O’Reilly told the president, “I want to get some things on the record.” And so he did – over the course of 10 minutes, O’Reilly, in this order, pushed for Kathleen Sebelius’ ouster, talked up the 2012 attack in Benghazi, spent on the non-existent IRS controversy, and read a question from a viewer: “Mr. President, why do you feel it’s necessary to fundamentally transform the nation that has afforded you so much opportunity and success?”

Not many people expected the Seattle Seahawks to steamroll the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Less surprising was the right-wing outrage over an ad featuring a patriotic hymn performed in multiple languages.

No, many conservatives didn’t much care for Coca-Cola’s one-minute spot, which showcased several singers performing “America The Beautiful” in languages such as English, Arabic and Spanish.

… The ad even inspired a #BoycottCoke hashtag on Twitter. Mediaite has a round-up of the outraged reactions from some rank-and-file Twitter conservatives.

Mediaite: Coca Cola Ad Featured First Gay Family in Super Bowl Ad History

Not as if you needed another reason not to have a racist freakout over a multilingual Coca Cola ad (or any ad), but here it is: while everybody was a-tweeting about speaking English, they missed the first gay family in Superb Bowl history.

About two-thirds of the way through the minute-long ad, a male couple and their daughter are seen rollerskating together, while “America the Beautiful” plays in the background. The ad aired during the second quarter of the game.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is moving ahead with preparations for a possible presidential bid and said in an interview that if he’s going to lay the groundwork for a national campaign, he can’t wait for Hillary Rodham Clinton to decide whether she is running.

In some of his most extensive comments to date on his aspirations, O’Malley (D) said he has been meeting with foreign- and domestic-policy experts privately to flesh out his thinking about “a better way forward for our country.” And he said that he would make a good president “for these times especially.”

A couple of weeks ago, aides to Gov. Chris Christie (R) leaked word that they were growing tired of “playing defense” in response to growing corruption allegations dogging the Christie administration. As the scandals intensified, the governor and his allies were prepared to “play offense.”

The manifestation of this strategy took shape in earnest over the weekend, though it’s a gambit fraught with risks.

David Wildstein’s attorney on Friday suggested “evidence exists” that Christie’s claims about the bridge scandal are not true. It’s unclear what kind of proof, if any, Wildstein has, but 24 hours later, the governor’s office was concerned enough to go after Wildstein’s credibility in an attack memo.

ThinkProgress: New York City Domino’s Workers Win $1.3 Million In Settlement Over Low Wages

A Domino’s franchisee in New York City has agreed to pay $1.28 million to 61 workers who charged the company with stealing wages, the New York Times reports.

The workers, who are all delivery people, will see awards ranging from $61,300 to $400, depending on how long they worked there. The lawsuit accused the company of withholding pay by making them pay for their own uniforms, do untipped work at the low tipped minimum wage, and go without a lunch break. While New York’s minimum wage is $8 an hour, the tipped minimum wage is just $5 an hour, but if tips don’t make up the difference, employers are supposed to fill the gap.

The Missouri Senate’s General Laws Committee voted 5-1 last week in favor of a bill that purports to make it a crime for federal law enforcement agents to enforce the nation’s gun laws. Under the bill’s terms, these agents could be imprisoned for up to a year and be fined up to $1,000.

Much of this unconstitutional legislation mirrors a bill Gov. Jay Nixon (D) vetoed last year. In September, Missouri’s overwhelmingly Republican senate came just one vote shy of the votes necessary to override Nixon’s veto. Like the bill Nixon vetoed last year, the new legislation contains a provision to arm public school personnel. It also would lower the minimum age to receive a concealed weapons permit from 21 to 19.

Few principles are more clearly established in American constitutional law than the prohibition on states nullifying federal laws. The Constitution provides that duly enacted federal laws “shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”

Very good R&S, Chips.
I specially enjoyed the 90 second version of Coke’s America The Beautiful. Yes, again

This ad completely captures the Zeitgeist—Spirit of the Times.
It says what the Dante ad and the Cheerios ads have been saying.
Inclusion and diversity make us stronger. This is the same message we have heard and seen from POTUS since his days at Harvard.

In opposition to the cartoon where the elephants are discussing capturing some Latino votes while withholding the Right to vote. Not hard to see who is on the right side of history and which way the arc of history is bending.

Someone has to explain to me where they see any greatness in Hillary. I don’t see it. Other than her stand for women’s rights about 30 years ago when she wasn’t in any kind of elected office, what courage or bravery has she exhibited?

I did, YA, but only to this song – twice- so you can figure out the effect it will have will be little more than the pretence factor. 😀 However, at the end I felt quite pleased with myself – a sense of accomplishment that will last for the rest of the week, no doubt.😉

I can remember a couple of colder winters, but only a couple during my several decades here. I can even remember a couple snowier winters, but only a couple. I don’t remember any with this combination of snow and cold.

A white police officer from suburban Detroit is out of a job after she was caught on tape violently hacking off a young hairdresser’s weave during an arrest in November,the Daily News reports.

Bernadette Najor was fired from the Warren Police Department in Warren, Mich., after the incident, the News says. Najor reportedly had a history of disciplinary problems, including a 2010 suspension for lying to her superiors, WXYZ-TV reports.

ABC’s The View reportedly plans to mainstream conservative talk radio host Dana Loesch by featuring her as a guest co-host on the February 3 program.

The decision to give Loesch a national platform on a highly-rated television show is troubling considering Loesch has gained notoriety for her inflammatory rhetoric, expressing extreme views on topics from gun control to reproductive access.

Just took a gander at that calamity—–curious about how they would handle their illustrious co-host, given that the hosts had admittedly been bombarded with furious tweets about this decision. They let Loesch explain that she switched from being liberal to conservative when she became a mother —–because—–?—–a bunch of gibberish that of course made no sense—like, she realized you have to be nice to each other. What??? She’s such a sincere sweetie—hahahaha (of course it had nothing to do with the emergence of Barack Obama and his skin tone) I have no idea why she’s there—ABC going ever rightward. Everyone sat politely and listened to Loesch proclaim that she was an adamant 2nd amendment gal, loves, loves, loves her guns—–and “pro-life”, no womens’ rights for her. The View is a train wreck anyway—-more dumb comments per minute there than anywhere if you eliminate FOX from the competition—-but the level has fallen to below basement level with the addition of Jenny McCarthy —-wow, she is an idiot, every day in every way. Why is she there? She and Loesch just had a fine time talking about how great it is to home school their kids—-Loesch said the public schools in St. Louis had lost their accreditation—-I don’t think so, Dana—–just lie, lie, lie. Oh sigh—-out of all the smart women in this country—who could share smart ideas and be influential—this is who Barbara Walters assembled.

I don’t watch that show, unless the President or First Lady are on … I can see the Barbara Walters assemblage of right-wingers, true to her nature, but why don’t the liberals on the show speak up before the newbies are brought in? Have the other co-hosts no power at all to keep the rest of the country from seeing these jokers sit and growl in the spotlight? I realize the liberals on the show will call out the right-wingers, real time, but how they can sit there and allow the worst of the worse to be matched up with them in the first place is beyond me.

Hard to watch when one is pretty sure it’s all for the almighty dollar and seeing themselves on camera and being invited to all the parties.

We have one combined station and one corporation running pretty much everything now.
Sports, comedy,drama, and the music business all together in promoting products from and in service to the Corporate State.
The line between RW media and all media gets thinner everyday.

The occasional President friendly bit is to keep us confused and under some amount of delusion about media coverage.

yep. And pardon me folks for a bit of conspiracy theory, but I can’t help wondering what’s the long term agenda of ALEC, the organization that has pushed for the Concealed Carry laws AND the Stand Your Ground laws in so many states. Demographics in America are changing and it will create A LOT of tensions in the next decade or so. It’s like ALEC wants to create the conditions for an explosion of violence. Seriously.

That’s more than a conspiracy theory, Lovepolitics. I’ll repeat…”Stand your Ground” was passed 2 months after Congress finally issued a resolution against lynching. If the Kochs could pull off everything they hope to, we will be truly living in apartheid America…with no jobs, no voting rights, no public education. Think there’d be a uprising?

The killer must go to jail. It’s a no brainer. I hope this trial gets a lot of exposure. Americans in general want fairness. Problem is that a good portion of them are being brainwashed (yes I’m using that word) by the far right propaganda machine. If there is any hope to see those americans awaken to the insanity, it’s clear-cut incidents like this. America has made some progress since the sixties. Riiight?

PEOPLE UNDER 25 EXPECT ‘A NEW WAY OF LEADERSHIP,’ MARYLAND GOVERNOR [O’MALLEY] SAYS

… “They’re pretty dialed in,” O’Malley said. “Unlike some of the older baby boomers, they don’t seek separation, they seek greater connection. They not only expect their government to work. They expect to be consulted and informed regularly along the way. They also expect a degree of openness and transparency from their public institutions.” …

He said in last week’s interview that he is moving ahead with preparations for a possible presidential bid, saying he can’t afford to wait for Hillary Rodham Clinton to reach a decision about whether she will run in 2016. …

If he talks about “a new way of leadership”, he better be very careful that he doesn’t sound as he’s criticizing the president. I won’t have it. I know he supports the president, but still… Can he find some other expressions so it CAN’T be interpreted, BY ANYONE, as criticism of the magnificent president who’s sitting in the Oval right now ??!!

Jer, I’m thrilled O’Malley is stepping in to run in 2016. He’s the future of the Democratic Party–young, energetic, smart and with a stellar track record in MD. He will give a whole new dynamic to the race.

Very shiny in Seattle this morning, breezy and cool. It seems winter is finally paying us a visit! Interesting to see a flock of crows playing in the wind, perhaps the revelry of last night kept them awake! Hadn’t thought of that, wonder what the birds think of all this human impact on their lives. Mornin’ y’all!

Something different. I want to reccomend a book—The Army of the Republic written by Stuart Archer Cohen and published in 2008.

First paragraph: “Television is the closest thing we’ve got to God in America, an all-present eye that creates the world, ceaselessly and seamlessly, 24 hours a day. A comic book bible made of light; they build their phony universe with pictures, pictures, pictures.”

Interesting opening…. but it is the premise of this book that is relevant today and the premise is that water will be the most valuable commodity a lot sooner than we think.

By now we’ve all seen that California’s drought is deeply serious. It threatens the entire nation’s food supply.

What Army of the Republic explores is the long time efforts to divert and control and profit from water scarcity. The company building the diverting mechanisms is called Cascadia and the efforts they go to and the control over everything this corporation has is the stuff of nightmares.

Not saying this book is great literature, just that it was riveting in 2008 and even more significant in 2014.

I browsed at the Univ of Iowa bookstore over lunch and what did I find? You can buy an Iowa Hawkeyes sweatshirt in English, Arabic, Spanish or Russian! That’s pretty cool. But then, we are known for being a bit liberal in this town…

Katharine Lee Bates, who first drafted the words to the anthem in 1893, lived in Wellesley, Mass., for 25 years with Katharine Coman, whom some described as her lesbian partner. In an 1891 letter to Coman, Bates wrote that she couldn’t leave Wellesley for long because “so many love-anchors held me there, and it seemed least of all possible when I had just found the long-desired way to your dearest heart … Of course I want to come to you, very much as I want to come to Heaven.”

Someone close to me just joked and said: Thank Goodness the pre-Super Bowl Interview Pres Obama did with the Fox TV Station didn’t have 4 TBGOPers rebutting him as the 4 TBGOPers did to the POTUS’ SOTU.

Indeed.

TBGOPers complain about POTUS being on TV before the game……? Yet they would have endlessly foam on their mouths had POTUS said: No to Fox. These people are just sick bat poops.

I know all this stuff has not been completely confirmed but I cannot imagine that you would go buy 50 bags of heroine because you relapsed. This is just my opinion but he apparently was a habitual user who was in denial and was able to keep this a secret from family and friends. I feel for his family who is going through this awful, terrible loss. I’m so sorry he wasn’t able to get the help he needed before this tragic accident. He was brilliant actor.